I want to start by saying Thank You! You’ve made a commitment to yourself and your profession. I don’t have the number of canvassers across the country, but it’s a big number and you’re among a small group of them who’ve chosen to invest in yourself and your company and for that you should be congratulated. It’s evident in the number of members who were on the live call this newsletter is based; considering it was the day before Thanksgiving. Again, Thank You!
It’s the perfect time of the year to discuss the attitude of gratitude. In today’s newsletter I’m going to discuss how that translates into your outbound marketing efforts. This isn’t about being thankful to have a job and paycheck, but it goes much deeper than that.
The attitude of gratitude is a vital transformation of consciousness; it’s a mental mindset that has benefit beyond the idea. It will help you through all the obstacles you face in this profession.
Gratitude is an emotion expressing appreciation for what one has, as opposed to the consumer driven emphasis on what one wants. Gratitude can be cultivated and increases your happiness, well-being and optimism. What is it? It’s initiated based on a set of beliefs. You can choose to be grateful or ungrateful; both are intangibles. Both exist as a state of mind and both are conjured up consciously. They both reside in the same space in your head.
What you give attention to expands. Choose to focus on what you have or what you don’t have and your attitude will be formed. In the first newsletter this month I wrote about what you do and don’t have control over. Gratitude is something you have control over and it is the rudder that dictates your direction every day. Your daily results can be directly connected to your state of mind.
How can you have a gratitude mindset when everything is going wrong? Despite your best intentions you get sucked into bad situations with bad people, then how can you maintain that state of mind? Again, it goes back to what you can control. The ‘circumstances’ you get sucked into, you may not have control over, however, you do have control over accepting responsibility. You think your thoughts. Those thoughts ignite your emotions and directions. Your current outcomes are based on what you’ve thought or felt in the past. It may not make you feel any better, but it’s the foundation upon which you can change your position and/or outcomes.
What Should Be and What Is
The frustration you feel is personality driven. The successful marketer is often a ‘control’ person; meaning he or she is comfortable when in control of the circumstances and situations happening around them. This is where the vital transformation in consciousness happens. Things are going to happen that are out of your control; negative people, emergencies, setbacks, tragedies, etc., but you control how you respond to them. It’s best to have a clear understanding of ‘what it is’. Then look at ‘this is what happened’. Next, consider ‘this is the situation’. Get clear on these 3 things:
- This is what it is
- This is what happened
- This is the situation now
Do this exercise and it will free you from denial and complaining. This allows you to take back control and prevent the external world from controlling your consciousness. This is a powerful control mechanism.
“The attitude of gratitude is the healthiest of all emotions. Physical, mental and spiritual; how we feel about the world around us has a big impact.” Zig Ziglar
In my live coaching and training I stress this, how the canvasser or marketer feels about themselves and the world around them will impact their outcomes. The average person has thousands and thousands of ‘self-thoughts’ per day. Studies show 85% of those thoughts are negative. These are propagated by what you see and read, what you expose yourself to. Consider the conversations taking place on your Facebook news feed. What are the newspaper, radio and television stations reporting on? Bad news… politically culturally! You have a choice at countering all these negative inputs.
I mention this because of the events taking place, and approaching, on the calendar right now. At the time of writing this it’s Thanksgiving, Black Friday and the start of the Christmas holiday season. As a nation, even as cultures, this time of the year is marketed and advertised as the ‘joyous season’, yet 71% of Americans report the holidays cause them stress. When asked the sources of their stress here’s the top 3 on the list:
- Shopping for gifts
- Spending time with family
- Cooking and/or planning for holiday events
During the holiday season when we’re supposed to be happy and grateful, stress outweighs gratitude. 92% of Americans believe the holidays are a time to say thanks to family and friends. Yet 1 in 5 confesses to being thankful to material possessions over people.
12% of Americans admitted they’d rather spend time on their smart phones over having an amiable conversation with family. WOW! No one is immune to these stresses.
Gratitude actually heightens the quality of your life!
A study conducted by Michael McCollough and Robert Emmons on the impact of gratitude on well-being. The study was done by splitting people into three groups. Each group was given instructions on what they were to make a list of during each day. Here’s how the groups were split:
- Journal the events during the day
- Journal the unpleasant experiences
- Journal the things you’re thankful for
The 3rd group reported higher levels of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, optimism and energy. Those in the 3rd group experienced lower levels of depression and stress. They were more likely to help others, exercise more and made greater progress toward achieving personal goals. The benefits of having an attitude of gratitude.
Dr. Emmons is considered the leading authority on the subject of gratitude (author of, “Thanks. How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier”). The material contained in his book is from thousands of researchers having conducted studies around the world. One of the commonalities shows that practicing gratitude increases happiness by 25%.
What I take away from these studies is that gratitude is a practice. Here’s the challenge I pose to you, do you practice gratitude consciously, daily? On yourself? With your team?
You have to practice attitude. People will follow leadership. Lead with gratitude!
Take the time and effort to learn why the power of gratitude is so powerful. Learn it for yourself and for your team. Learn it to become a better, more effective leader. Master and perform it every day.
Get the book, “Think and Grow Rich” – Napoleon Hill. Hill wrote the book 70 years ago and its information is as relevant today as it was when it was published. Hill was commissioned by steel magnet Andrew Carnegie to interview 500 of the most successful people in America. A commonality was the attitude of gratitude. Here’s Napoleon Hill’s gratitude prayer, direct from the book.
“I ask not for divine providence for more riches but more wisdom with which to accept and use wisely the riches I received at birth in the form of the power to control and direct my mind to whatever end I desire.”
You have the power to direct and control your mind to whatever end you desire.
Understand The Big Picture
Here are some things to consider for getting over the stresses of the holidays and can be applied to any time of the year.
What do you have control over?
- Advertising during the holidays draws emphasis to what goes on throughout the year. Advertising depicts people and thinks in perfections and human nature is for us to compare ourselves to others. We consider what we have or where we are based on others. Easier said than done but no one should compare themselves to others, because each person’s goals and circumstances vary. What’s good for the goose isn’t necessarily good for the gander. What one person or company has isn’t necessarily right for another. Success is objective, not subjective. Focus on what you’re doing, what you are and focus on the things you have control over.
- Aim for doing good. Don’t get over-obsessed with being perfect. Perfection is unobtainable. Aim for doing things in increments.
- Set limits on how you set your time. Remind yourself that you have choices.
- State one thing you’re grateful for each day. Do a search on YouTube by Zig Ziglar titled “Attitude makes all the difference.” It’s a 9-minute video that will give you perspective.
- Send gratitude cards and be specific why you are grateful to have them in your life. Cards sent outside of the holidays are sometimes more meaningful than a signature slapped on a generic holiday card.
- Make it a habit to set a least 60 seconds a day to reflect and focus a few good things you have in your life.
Change your attitude and the world will look different. When the world looks different your outcome will change.
“Change your mind set. Improve your skillset; and then, Get off your Asset” -Chris Thompson
There’s a lot written and said on this topic. I do a lot of reading and research on it, as you should too. It’s a difficult subject to discuss in print here considering the limited time and attention you can give it during any given work day. I recommend you do 2 things; first, get the recording from my live Silver Level Telecoaching call from November 25, 2015 and listen to it, devour it. On the live call I go into a deeper discussion than I can here as well as share stories about my own experiences. The second thing I recommend you do is research this subject further. I’ve given you a few resources here and there are more I refer to in the recording of the live call.
Lastly, if you’re reading this newsletter with a poor attitude right now, the words on this page will not likely pick your spirits or attitude up. It will not be very motivational to read my words with your present attitude. If this is the case, then I highly recommend you get the live recording from my call and listen to it. Engaging with me and letting my enthusiasm impact you will bring about the vital transformation of consciousness you need.
“Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we respond to what happens to us.”
Committed to your canvassing success,
Chris Thompson, The Canvass King